A story– I (Ben) am terrible at everything involving money and when AG came out and we made the vinyl, we lost something like $10 for every record we sold. it was a disaster and directly tied into our need to run that kickstarter campaign for Sea When Absent and the fact that we haven’t been able to make it back to Europe in a while. It also lead to a written-in-stone law of ASDiG– NO DOUBLE LPs, EVER. It’s funny thinking about it now, how I thought that no one would pay $30 or whatever we would have had to sell it for to break even. Since the vinyl sold out in December 2009, MANY people have come up to us at shows asking us to sign their copy of AG which they bought for $200 – $400 from ebay/discogs/wherever. Frankly, that is heartbreaking for everyone. It is my firm belief that no record should cost that much. We sincerely hope we never hear anyone say that again.

Buy it now from Vinyl Me, Please for a fair price! It’s a beautiful reissue, VMP have done a fantastic job and we are delighted they asked to reissue this monster. Get it quick. Once this is gone… who knows?

One of the best emails we’ve ever received came a few months ago and had the subject line, “A Sunny Day in Glasgow Socks Opportunity”. Socks opportunity! How intriguing. I have truly always wanted socks with the ASDiG cloud printed on them and now someone has made my dream come true. I’ve bought 3 pairs.

WE ARE MAKING A NEW RECORD

If you read the interview at the link to the AG reissue, you’ll note that we are heading to Texas, to a ridiculous studio, in a couple of months to make a record. We’ve really upped the ante here, so this will either be incredible or a complete disaster. Never boring though. We are excited and hope that you are excited. Let’s be excited.

Smiley Face was made in complete collaboration with Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Shahzad Ismaily and ASDIG’s very own Ben Daniels and Ryan Newmyer. I loved every minute of it. I’m so happy to share it with the world.

Big thanks to Bandcamp for helping us share our story. We’ve always been a fan of using their platform to buy and share music, but we’re so glad they could be there for us as a friend and blog as well, in this difficult time.

I don’t know if you all know this but it took us two and a half years to make Sea When Absent and that process really knocked us out. When were talking about writing new music, we thought it would be a good exercise to write a bunch of songs, record them right away, and get them out there. Kind of like doing push-ups or meditating or getting drunk after work. Something to reset ourselves.

So this past May we all got together in Josh’s basement to work out a bunch of songs. And it was great. Good times—hanging out drinking coffee until it was time to start drinking beer until it was time to start taking drugs. Haha sike, we’re not big drug takers, but that was definitely the vibe. And our lack of drug-doing prowess inspired the title of one of these EPs.

The end product is what we wanted—a bunch of songs written, recorded and mixed at light-speed (for this band). That we love all the songs is a wonderful byproduct of everything else. We made these songs in lightness and we hope you’ll listen to them while feeling light.

We’ll have more singles, music videos and some live shows in the coming months! And if you really can’t wait that long and you happen to be in New York City, Jen will be playing a show this Thursday October 8th where you can hear some stripped down versions of songs off the new EP. Alright, more soon.

xoxo,

ASDiG

ps- In 2015 you can’t get vinyl pressed in less than 6 months, so hello CDs (and mp3/streaming, of course)! It’s actually better this way, kind of perfect. You should buy the CD, put it in your microwave for a few seconds, watch the pretty green flame, and then stream it. Further join in the modern excess drowning us all. It’s all good. Life is loss.

Watch the music video for “Crushin’“ directed by Herb Shellenberger and Michael Thomas Vassallo. Thanks to Jordyn Karpinski, Ted Passon and Laris Kreslins.

We’re excited to be part of Geographic North’s Winter tape series “Sketch for Winter I IV.” Pitchfork announced our contribution is the first in the series and limited to 300 black liquorice cassette tapes. Pre-order now in advance of the December 3rd release date. A limited amount of tapes will be available for purchase at our upcoming winter shows. Listen to a stream of “Shut Your Mouth, It’s Christmas.”